CHAPTER XIX. THE NARCOTICS WE INDULGE IN. THE BETEL-NUT AND THE PEPPERWORTS. The betel-nut and betel palm; plantations of, in the East; extensive growth in Sumatra.-How this nut is used and prepared.-Fondness for the betel in India.Sensible effects of betel-chewing; its narcotic effects; counteracts opium.-Con stituents of the betel-nut; its astringent principle.-Consumption of betel.Substitutes for betel.-Catechu and gambir extract; extending consumption of the latter. The pepperworts.-Betel pepper or pawn.-Beauty of the plant, and its importance as an agricultural product.-Mode of cultivation.-Effects of the betel-pepper. The intoxicating long pepper or ava.-Chemistry of the pepperworts.-Piperin; its use against fevers.-Grains of Paradise, or malagueta pepper; their use as a spice in Africa and in England.-Use in adulterating beer and spirituous liquors. VIII. BETEL-NUT.-The Areca or Betel-Nut, or Pinang, is the seed of the Areca catechu, one of the most graceful species of palm. On the slopes of the Khasia mountains in the Himalaya, above the flat Bheels, where palms are numerous, "the cultivated areca raises its graceful head and feathery crown, like an arrow shot down from heaven, in luxuriance and beauty above the verdant slopes" -(DR. HOOKER). Almost everywhere in India it is extensively cultivated. In Ceylon, throughout Malabar, and higher up the coast, it is seen in vast plantations. The produce of these plantations is of great importance. As every one chews betel, the consumption of areca nuts in Fig. 69. Areca catechu.-The Betel-nut Palm. Height, thirty feet. Fruit, half the natural size. India is incredibly great. It forms, therefore, a most important article of traffic. In the Sunda Islands the areca palm grows wild. In the Philippines, the labourer is paid in betel rolls, as he is with coca leaves in some parts of Peru; and the betel-nut is one of the most valuable articles of produce in Sumatra. Whole shiploads are yearly sent off from the latter island to Malacca, Siam, and Cochin-China. The total export was, a few years ago, estimated at 80,000 or 90,000 piculs (each 133 lb. English,, the greater part of which went to China.* 1o. How THE BETEL-NUT IS USED.-The Betel-nut is about the size of a cherry, slightly pear-shaped, very hard, and externally not unlike a nutmeg of inferior quality. It is chewed along with the leaf of the betel pepper and a little quicklime, and a supply of each of these is often carried by the betel-chewer in a box, provided with compartments for the purpose. In describing his visit to the Sultan of Sooloo, Captain Wilkes says:-"On the left hand of the Sultan sat his two sons, on the right his councillors, while immediately behind him sat the carrier of his betel-nut *Ten to twelve millions of pounds. HOW BUYOS ARE MADE. 105 casket. The casket was made of filagree silver, about the size of a small tea-caddy, of oblong shape, and rounded at the top. It had three divisions—one for the nut, another for the leaf, and a third for the lime. Next to this official was the pipe-bearer, who did not appear to be held in equal estimation.”* In preparing the betel for chewing in India, the nut is cut into long narrow pieces, and rolled up in leaves of the betel pepper, previously dusted on one side with moist chunam (the quicklime of calcined shells). In Luçon, one of the Philippines, Meyen found in every corner of the house a little box or dish in which are kept the betel rolls (buyos), prepared for the day's consumption; and a buyo is there of fered to every one who enters, just as a pinch of snuff or a pipe is with us. "Travellers, and those who work in the open air, carry the buyos for the day in little boxes or bags, as the Peruvians do their coca. The preparation of the betel falls on the female members of the family, who, during the forenoon, may generally be seen lying on the ground and making buyos. The consumption of these is very great. Every one who can afford it puts a fresh buyo in his mouth every hour, which he can chew and suck for half an hour at least." Persons who have lost their teeth have the ingredients ground up into a paste, so as to render chewing unnecessary. The fondness for the betel in these eastern countries amounts to something like a passion. It is spoken of with enthusiasm. Many would rather forego both meat and drink than their favourite betel-(BLUME). The Tagali maidens regard it as a proof of the uprightness of the intentions of a lover, and of the strength of his affection, if he take the buyo from his mouth-(MEYEN). The betel-nut is * United States' Exploring Expedition (London edition), vol. ii. p. 277. to the Eastern Archipelago what the coca is to Eastern Peru. 2°. EFFECTS OF THE BETEL-NUT.-The visible effects of the betel are, that it promotes the flow of the saliva, and lessens the perspiration from the skin. It tinges the saliva red; so that when spit out, it falls on the earth like blood. It gives a red colour to the mouth, teeth, and lips, which, though at first sight disgusting to Europeans, is by the natives considered ornamental. It imparts also an agreeable odour to the breath, and is supposed to fasten the teeth, cleanse the gums, and cool the mouth. The juice is usually, but not always, swallowed. Its effects as a narcotic have not been so clearly detailed. To persons not accustomed to it, the nut is powerfully astringent in the mouth and the throat, and the quicklime often removes the skin, and deadens for a time the sense of taste. But it causes giddiness when chewed to any extent. On those who are accustomed to use it, however, the betel produces weak but continuous and sustained exhilarating effects. And that these are of a most agreeable kind, may be inferred from the very extended area over which the chewing of betel prevails among the Asiatic nations. In the damp and pestilent regions of India, also, where the natives live upon a spare and miserable diet, it is really very conducive to health. Part of its healthful influence in fever-breeding districts is probably to be ascribed to the pepper-leaf which is chewed along with the betel-nut. Its alleged effect in rousing persons who are under the influence of opium, as tea counteracts that of spirituous liquors, is somewhat remarkable. During the visit of Captain Wilkes to the Sultan of Sooloo, he had the opportunity of seeing the betel used for this purpose. That sultan's son, shortly after taking a few whiffs from. the opium-pipe, was entirely overcome, and became stupid and listless. CONSTITUENTS OF THE BETEL-NUT. 107 When but partially recovered from the stupor, he called for his betel-nut, to revive him by its exciting effects. This was carefully chewed by his attendant to a proper consistency, moulded into a ball, and then slipped into his mouth. 3°. CONSTITUENTS OF THE BETEL-NUT.-The chemistry of the Betel-nut is quite obscure. It is very astringent, and abounds in a peculiar species of tannin, which is extracted in India by boiling the nut in water, and is brought to this country under the name of catechu. In the moist, relaxing climates of the East, this strongly astringent substance acts beneficially upon the system. To it are probably to be ascribed some of the good effects experienced by Perron, who states that he "preserved his health, during a long and difficult voyage, by the habitual use of betel; while his companions who did not use it died mostly of dysentery." But the ordinary and understood action of a merely astringent substance does not account for the giddiness caused by the betel-nut in a young chewer, nor for the gentle intoxication it produces in all. These properties seem to imply the presence in the nut of some narcotic ingredient which is as yet unknown. From the circumstance of no such substance having been yet discovered in the nut, some writers are inclined to ascribe the intoxicating influence of the buyos altogether to the pepper-leaf in which the nut is enclosed. Upon this point, however, we must suspend our judgment until the chemist has had an opportunity of submitting both nut and leaf to a rigorous chemical examination. My own opinion is, that the coveted effect upon the system is the result of the combined influence-first, of the constituents of the nut; second, of those of the fresh pep. per; and, third, of substances which are produced or evolved in the mouth in consequence of the chemical action of the lime and of the saliva upon the ingredients of both nut and |